



PRESKNTKl) I5Y 



DAVID MURRAY, PH.D., LL.D. 




:>^'vio UU 



L1^Lcvu^ 



IN MEMORIAM 

DAVID MURRAY, PH.D., LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATIONAL 
AFFAIRS IN THE EMPIRE OF 
JAPAN, AND ADVISER TO 
THE JAPANESE IMPER- 
IAL MINISTER OF 
EDUCATION 
1873-1879 



" Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, 
Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain, 
A-wake but one and lo ! what piyriads rise. 
Each stamps its image as the other flies." 



PRIVATELY PRINTED 
NEW YORK 

1915 






% 



^ / I Mils volume is a Memorial to a life of unusually 

y I wide influence and to a character of great beauty 

? and charm. It is the tender tribute of one who 

walked with Doctor Murray in closest companionship 
along many and varied pathways. Others also have 
joined in this tribute, but words are all too inadequate 
to clothe the thoughts and feelings of those who have 
come into close contact with such a personality as that 
which is presented in this volume. 

Doctor Murray was a man of the broadest interests, 
a rare and delightful personality, with a flavor of dis- 
tinction which added charm to all he said and did. 
He was not only an educationist, but also a counsellor 
of insight and wisdom, a strong public character, and 
withal a man so modest and so reserved that only those 
who penetrated beneath the surface knew what a unique 
character his was. 

The memory of a life of such generous and unselfish 
devotion to high ideals of service and of friendship is 
enshrined in many hearts. Those who loved and admired 
him will derive deep satisfaction from this Memorial 
Volume to Dr. David Murray. 

W. I. Chamberlain. 



DAVID MURRAY 

PH.D., LL.D. 

Born, October 15, 1830— Died, March 6, 1905 
Graduated, Union College, 1852 
Principal, Albany Academy, 1857-1863 
Professor, Rutgers College, 1863-1873 

Superintendent of Educational Affairs in 

Japan, 1873-1879. 

Secretary of the Board of Regents of the 
Unrtersity of New York, 1880-1889 

Trustee of Union College, 1882-1889 

Trustee of Rutgers College, 1892-1905 

Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Rutgers 
College, 1898-1904 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

DR. DAVID MURRAY 

IN the early part of the nineteenth century William 
Murray and his wife, Jean Black, came from Scotland 
to America and joined the Scotch Colony which was 
already numerous and thriving on the upper tributaries 
of the Delaware river, in New York. Two young chil- 
dren came with them and later was born their son Wil- 
liam, who eventually became judge of the Supreme Court 
of New York State. 

On October 15, 1830, another son was born who re- 
ceived the true Scotch name of David. David was sent 
to school when about five years old. But he soon met 
with a sad accident, a fall received probably while playing 
with the schoolboys. This fall was severe and injured his 
leg. He was confined to his little crib for over a year un- 
der the care of a country doctor whose patient treatment 
finally saved him from losing the limb. The doctor, to en- 
tertain the boy's mind, brought him a small book. It was 
the Life of Washington — a rather curious book with 
which to entertain a child of five years, and full of long, 
strange words to him. But the doctor promised that the 
book should be his own as soon as he could read the first 
page. David 's ambition was excited and in a few months 
he was the proud owner of the book, which he kept sa- 
credly until his death. 

He continued his education at the Delaware Academy, 
then prepared for college at the Fergusonville Academy 
and entered the sophomore class of Union College, grad- 
uating, an honor man, in 1852. The tribute of his class- 
mate, Mr. S. B. Brownell, included in this book, gives the 
estimate of his character and attainments during his col- 
lege course: "He enjoyed the confidence, respect and 
affection of the faculty and students and won all the dig- 
nities and honors of college. ' ' 



2 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

At the time of Ms graduation in 1852, Dr. George H. 
Cook, who was principal of the Albany Academy, applied 
to Union College for an assistant. David Murray was 
recommended, and thus his life work commenced. 

He served in the Academy, first as assistant, then as 
Professor of Mathematics, and in 1857 succeeded Doctor 
Cook as principal. Under his charge the institution at- 
tained an enviable reputation for efficiency, — also becom- 
ing financially prosperous. 

In 1863 he was offered the Professorship of Mathe- 
matics and Astronomy in Rutgers College. His resigna- 
tion as principal of the Academy was received with much 
regret by the Trustees, who accorded him the highest 
testimonials. 

While in Albany he was active in religious and public 
affairs as well as in the duties of the Academy. He was 
concerned in the establishment of the State Street Pres- 
byterian Church. He interested himself in Sunday 
School work as well as in literary societies. 

In Rutgers College he attained a distinguished repu- 
tation as a successful organizer and administrator. 
Here also he became interested in ways outside the 
sphere of his professorship. He and the late Dr. Jacob 
Cooper were the founders of the Alpha Beta Kappa So- 
ciety in New Jersey, Professor Murray being its first 
president. He was instrumental in establishing the His- 
torical Society and the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion, to which also he was elected first president. 

He united with the Second (Dutch) Reformed 
Church, in which he served as elder from time to time, 
and as Superintendent of the Sunday School for many 
years — until he left for Japan. 

In 1872 an embassy was sent abroad from Japan to 
study the methods of foreign nations. 

At the head of the embassy was Iwakura, Junior 
Prime Minister of the empire, and associated with him 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 3 

were Kido and Okubo, two of the ablest statesmen of 
the new era. One of the subjects which they were most 
eager to study was the system of national education, to 
which they rightfully credited the prominence of western 
nations. Mori Arinori was then in charge of the Japanese 
Legation at Washington, and under his guidance they 
thoroughly investigated the subject. In this work they 
sent out letters practically to all the educational institu- 
tions of prominence in the United States for advice. 

Doctor Campbell, President of Rutgers College, 
turned the matter over to Professor Murray. 

Through the influence of the late Doctor Verbeck, who 
as missionary and counselor had devoted his life to the 
Japanese, the first students sent abroad by the Govern- 
ment came to New Brunswick. They were clever young 
men of high rank. Professor Murray was interested in 
them as strangers in a foreign land, and they were al- 
ways welcomed with hospitality and kindness at his 
home. Naturally the condition of education in Japan 
was the chief topic discussed. 

For this reason Doctor Campbell requested Professor 
Murray to reply to the letter sent to him. 

Professor Murray's answers to the inquiries were so 
full, clear and complete that a special invitation was 
sent to him to visit the embassy at Washington, and an 
interview was arranged. Other interviews and consul- 
tations followed, the result being that Professor Murray 
was invited to become the Superintendent of Educational 
Affairs in the empire of Japan and adviser to the Im- 
perial Japanese Minister of Education, which position 
he accepted and held from 1873 till 1879, At the request 
of the faculty of Rutgers College the Trustees granted 
him a leave of absence for three years, the period of his 
appointment to Japan. 

The members of the Historical Club tendered him a 
public dinner which, forty years ago, was a more unusual 



4 DAVID MUREAY: IN MEMORIAM 

occurrence than in these days. The graduating class of 
Rutgers College presented him with an elegant travelling 
case, — all these testimonials showing the respect and ap- 
preciation in which he was held. 

On his arrival in Japan, June, 1873, he went at once 
to Tokyo to pay his respects to the acting Minister of 
Education, Tanaka Fujimaro, whose office was in one of 
the rambling Japanese buildings, formerly the home of 
a Daimyo. He was conducted through a winding pas- 
sageway which led under numerous partition beams to 
the apartment of Minister Tanaka. These partition 
beams were designed for the sliding doors or screens, 
separating one apartment from another on occasion. 
The height was exactly six feet, consequently Doctor 
Murray, being fully six feet, at each beam was obliged 
to stoop to avoid bumping his head. No notice was taken 
at the time of the incident, but on his next visit to the 
office building he found that every beam under which he 
had to pass had been raised six inches. Such courtesy 
and consideration was continued throughout his sojourn. 

The mission of the (Mombusho) Department of Edu- 
cation was to plan and establish a suitable system for the 
empire, and was charged by the Emperor in these 
words: "It is intended that henceforth education shall 
be so diffused that there may not be a village with an 
ignorant family, nor a family with an ignorant 
member. ' ' 

The Department was engaged in preparing a revised 
form of the code of education issued in 1872. Doctor 
Murray and Minister Tanaka went over every part of it 
with painstaking assiduity: the instructions prescribed 
for officers and teachers, the subjects assigned to each 
grade of school and each class in the school, the fees of 
pupils attending the schools and the parts to be borne in 
their support by the fees of pupils, by the local govern- 
ment and by the Department of Education. It was to 



BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 5 

this amended code, when issued, that the Emperor pre- 
fixed his authorization containing the memorable sen- 
tence quoted above. 

Doctor Murraj^'s first task in accordance with the 
Emperor's proclamation was to plan for a universal 
educational system. For this purpose public schools 
throughout the empire were necessary. 

Doctor Murray had a remarkable talent for organiza- 
tion ; he also inspired the Minister with perfect confidence 
and respect. The scheme for public schools was studied 
and perfected and the system established in all the 
provinces. 

This achievement was accomplished so quietly and in 
such an incredibly short time that it elicited universal 
admiration. 

A university had been started under the able regime 
of Doctor Verbeck. The scope of the university was en- 
larged, new departments created and able professors en- 
gaged. There has been a regular growth down to the 
present time. An album prepared for the St. Louis Ex- 
position, containing photographs of every room in each 
department, shows with what fidelity to particulars each 
department has been elaborated. What pleasure both 
Minister Tanaka and Doctor Murray would now take if 
they were living, in seeing the wonderful results of their 
early endeavors! They had many conferences on his- 
tory, politics and religion. Christianity at this time was 
a subject forbidden to be taught in institutions under the 
Government. Doctor Murray was fond of telling of these 
conversations. At one time Minister Tanaka asked con- 
cerning the religions which prevailed in the most favored 
nations of the world, and he ended with the naive state- 
ment that his country had lost its faith in the old reli- 
gions and had not yet acquired a better. In speaking of 
the early history of Japan, which is in great part legend- 
ary, and being asked if the great age given of some of the 



6 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

early emperors did not throw discredit on the accounts 
of the events of their reigns, Minister Tanaka said that 
he thought the great ages of the early Emperors no more 
remarkable than the great ages of the patriarchs as given 
in the Bible. 

(Note. — During the period of Doctor Murray's con- 
nection with the Department of Education in Japan, all 
religious instruction in the Institutions was forbidden by 
the Government. Doctor Murray's pure Christian char- 
acter was, however, fully appreciated by the officials and 
those with whom he was associated. When at one time 
the Japanese Minister consulted him as to what he could 
suggest for the purpose of teaching the students moral- 
ity. Doctor Murray frankly told him that the Bible was 
the only worthy authority on that subject. Now, in these 
later days, the Japanese are finding that the lack of 
spirituality in their old religions is the great need of 
their people. The Murrays were considered great Sab- 
batarians because they neither gave nor accepted invita- 
tions for Sunday entertainments.) 

Doctor Murray was supposed to be an authority on 
every possible question, educational or otherwise. He 
was asked by one of the officers to draw a design for a 
foreign baby's cradle. Then he was asked to plan a 
staircase in foreign style in a house which, by the way, 
proved to be intended for his own special comfort to take 
the place of the bungalow first assigned to him. It must 
be remembered that all this was in the very early days 
when Japan first opened her country to foreign nations 
and our foreign ways were novel to them. 

Doctor Murray came, however, at one time very near 
ending his services to Japan while aiding some depart- 
ment officers to select a suitable site for a new building 
to be erected. Large grounds of about 150 acres had 
been provided for the buildings of the Educational De- 
partment. These grounds had formerly been occupied 



BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 7 

by the Daimyo of Kaga and his retainers, and contained 
innumerable wells for their use. These wells were now 
useless and concealed by the overgrowth of grass. While 
walking along Doctor Murray suddenly fell into one of 
these wells. It was twenty feet deep, but happily soft 
mud at the bottom prevented any broken limbs. At first 
the shock stunned him, but as soon as he could speak he 
called to the terrified group who were peering down upon 
him to send to his house for a ladder and a rope, and es- 
pecially not to tell Mrs. Murray. A servant, however, 
hearing of the accident, rushed to Mrs. Murray, calling 
out: "Mr. Murray fall down — fall down well!" Mrs. 
Murray and the servant immediately rushed through the 
pampas grass and rain to the spot. But on reaching the 
place she was instantly stopped and held by a gentleman, 
who probably feared she was going to jump into the well, 
as Japanese women had been known to do under such 
circumstances. Mrs. Murray tried to extricate herself 
from the man, agony lending her strength, when another 
person added his aid to hold her. She was in despair, 
thinking her husband was dying and she helpless to 
move ! Suddenly, however, she looked toward the well, 
where she saw a pale face rise above the dreadful hole. 
It was as if her husband had risen from his tomb! 
Everything possible was done to atone for the accident 
and inside of twenty-four hours nineteen of these 
treacherous traps, which were within view of the house, 
were safely curbed and guarded. 

A more joyous event was an interesting banquet 
given to Doctor and Mrs. Murray by an ex-Daimyo in 
the old historic style wherein Daimyos entertained one 
another. This ex-Daimyo 's father had been one of the 
officials to receive Commodore Perry, and he still pre- 
served an elegant glass epergne which the Commodore 
had presented to his father. So much etiquette and 
ceremony attended these now obsolete functions that six 



8 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

or more weeks were required to drill the servants for the 
service. 

Arriving at the Daimyo's residence at 4 o'clock in 
the afternoon, and leaving the carriage outside the wall 
surrounding the grounds (as it is not etiquette to drive 
to the door of a gentleman's house), a stone paved court- 
yard was entered with a single pine tree in the centre. 

Beneath a purple curtain bearing the family (Toku- 
gawa) crest and words of welcome, four servants, dressed 
in the old style livery, received the guests with profound 
obeisance. After removing shoes and donning soft slip- 
pers in order to avoid marring the polished verandah 
and elastic mats of the house, and being escorted to a 
room from which there was a superb view, the host and 
hostess, robed in exquisite native dress, appeared and the 
usual elaborate oriental greetings took place. Then tea 
and sweets were served, after which, passing through 
several rooms en suite lined with gorgeous gold screens, 
the dining hall was reached. This opened wide on the 
magnificent landscape garden. Cushions were placed in 
the four corners of the room, about twelve feet apart, 
and the gentlemen were placed vis-a-vis and the ladies 
likewise. 

The menu, which consisted of some thirty or more 
courses of viands, known and unknown, cannot be given. 
Suffice it to say they were served in true oriental style 
with the statuesque servants gliding noiselessly back and 
forth, carrying small (dais) low tables containing the 
special courses and presenting them in kneeling posture 
to each person. Sake was served from the historic wine 
kettle in a golden cup. A retainer, master of ceremonies, 
explained the significance of certain forms. 

The most exciting course was an immense, beautifully 
dressed fish, served to each person. Appetites had been 
pampered to the last degree. Anxiety as to the disposal 
of this course was, however, allayed when the retainer 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 9 

stated that these fish were not intended to be eaten, — but 
were presents. 

Another most unexpected course was a richly em- 
broidered scarlet silk robe for Mrs. Murray and a valu- 
able sword for Doctor Murray. These articles and the 
fish were sent to the home of the guests with delicious 
confectionery. 

After about three hours the ceremonial service ended 
and they adjourned to another room. Here was a table 
set in foreign style with more delicacies. Chairs were a 
grateful rest after sitting on low cushions during the 
previous collation. Jolly toasts and amusing conversa- 
tion whiled away another hour with an influx of Japanese 
guests. Finally a beautiful tableau was formed of ladies 
and gentlemen in their native picturesque costumes and 
a concert with various musical instruments ended the 
novel entertainment. 

Mistakes will occur in a land of mixed languages. 
The Murrays, wishing to return the many courtesies re- 
ceived from both Japanese and Americans, decided upon 
an American reception in lieu of the usual tiffins and 
dinners. But in these early days there was no Japanese 
Delmonico accustomed to serve the style of collation re- 
quired. Finally an ex-retainer of a celebrated family 
turned up who thought he could do the business. After 
numerous interviews through an interpreter the menu 
was settled upon and the excellent appetites of the 
Americans were duly impressed upon the caterer. 

The day arrived glorious and beautiful. About 10 
o'clock the refreshments began to come in — ^jinrikasha 
after jinrickasha piled high with crates and boxes and 
baskets rushed to the servants' quarters and were un- 
loaded. An hour or so before 1 o 'clock, when the guests 
were expected, Mrs. Murray was summoned to inspect 
the refreshment table. It was handsome and most bounti- 
ful, and she was told as much more was in reserve. 



10 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

The guests came; their appetites proved perfectly 
satisfactory. They departed, and on reviewing the re- 
mains of the supper forty ducks were counted, ten large 
pheasants, fish, oysters, salads, jellies and confectionery 
innumerable. 

About seventy guests had been feted. Servants were 
fed. Baskets were packed full and sent to a Children's 
Home, where sixty people lived, and had a feast, and 
still the Murrays and neighbors were fed for days and 
days. This entertainment proved the ability of the ca- 
terer and established him in business — and in everlasting 
gratitude to his employer. He begged for a letter of 
recommendation to hang in his restaurant, — ^which prob- 
ably finally made his fortune. When Doctor Murray left 
Japan he presented him with a handsome piece of 
lacquer. 

Other laughable and absurd misunderstandings oc- 
curred from the want of a mutual language. 

Before going to Japan the Japanese students in New 
Brunswick suggested teaching Mrs. Murray something 
of the language. There were not at that time suitable 
books for the purpose, therefore it was deemed best for 
her to commit to memory some everyday phrases and, 
as she was to live in Tokyo where the court language 
was spoken among the officials, she learned some very 
elegant speeches. 

On being entertained by the Prime Minister, whose 
sons had been very intimate with her in New Brunswick, 
the time seemed appropriate to show off how proficient 
she was in the court language. She intended in superla- 
tive terms to express her pleasure at being in Japan and 
her admiration of the beautiful country. But what was 
her surprise as she proceeded with her speech to see one 
gentleman after another looking at his watch. Alas! 
instead of her flowery speech she had asked ''What 
o'clock is it?" Explanations followed and her mistake 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 11 

caused much merriment. Afterward she often heard the 
story alluded to. 

In connection with the Centennial Exhibition at Phil- 
adelphia Doctor Murray accompanied the Commission to 
America, accredited with the special charge of selecting 
and purchasing suitable articles for the Educational 
Museum which had been established in Tokyo by the 
Department of Education. He visited Washington at 
this time in the interest of restoring the Japanese In- 
demnity Fund. 

He prepared and published an open letter and 
pamphlet to Congress and a pamphlet on the subject. 
Later the Indemnity was restored. 

At the close of the Centennial he returned to Japan, 
having been urged by the Department to extend his 
connection with it, allowing him to fix his own date for 
resigning his position. He remained until January, 1879. 
On his return to Japan he visited and inspected the 
schools which had been established in the empire. 

It was a most interesting series of tours and he was 
especially surprised to see with what zeal and enthusi- 
asm the local governments had taken up the work of 
popular education. They had already done much to ful- 
fill the proclamation of the Emperor that in no village 
should a family remain ignorant. 

Thus travelling from place to place the marvelous 
picturesque beauty of the country was disclosed. 

The trip to Nik'ko, however, surpassed all others for 
uniqueness, as it was made in these early days when the 
road was kept in beautiful order with magnificent crypto- 
meria trees on either side forming an archway through 
which to pass, this being the road the Daimyos travelled 
when making their pilgrimage to the burial place of the 
old shogun lyeyasu. 

The trip necessitated much preparation as the stay 
was to be a three weeks' vacation. A pack horse loaded 



12 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

with bedding, chairs, boxes of canned provisions, etc., 
led the way. Then followed several jinrikashas with the 
chef, cook, maid, and baggage, a riding horse with its 
betto for a Japanese friend, a carriage with coachman 
and two bettos, all making quite a cavalcade, and giving 
the feeling of true Orientalism. Any pride that had been 
cherished by the imposing procession, especially as this 
was the first foreign carriage to pass this road, was soon 
dissipated, when arriving at the magnificent red lacquer 
bridge information was given that Daimyos only were 
permitted to cross the river by this sacred bridge and the 
cavalcade with ordinary people was relegated to the 
wooden passage. It is impossible to give any real idea 
of Nik'ko. Impressive red lacquer temples imbedded 
in magnificent trees rise one above another as you ascend 
the mountain. You ascend a wonderful stone staircase 
of two hundred steps, built in the mountains, which al- 
thoiigh the work of art yet gives the appearance of having 
been planted by nature. The plain tomb on the peak of 
the mountain of granite enclosed with an iron railing 
with the immense koro (incense burner), candlestick, and 
vase for flowers, all of bronze, was simplicity itself. 

Doctor Murray closed his connection with the Depart- 
ment of Education in January, 1879, receiving the most 
cordial expressions of respect and esteem from all the 
officers of the Department, which he reciprocated most 
earnestly, having in his intimate association with them 
been deeply impressed with the treatment of courtesy 
and kindness always shown to him. 

He had his final audience with the Emperor in the 
previous month of December, when His Majesty bestowed 
upon him the Imperial Japanese Decoration of the Rising 
Sun of the third order. 

After making a tour of Europe Doctor Murray ar- 
rived in America September, 1879. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 13 

He was immediately sought for as Secretary of the 
Board of Regents of the University of New York State. 
The acceptance of this important work, for which he was 
well fitted, took him back to Albany in December of the 
same year. He established this office on a firm and val- 
uable business working foundation which was lacking 
when he undertook it. Unfortunately, when his office 
was moved to the new Capitol, the ventilation being im- 
perfect, his room became impregnated with sewer gas. 
His health and physique being most perfect it was not 
until 1886 that he broke down with a severe attack of 
pachy-meningitis. A long rest and trip to Europe, how- 
ever, restored him and he carried on his work until the 
Spring of 1889, when he resigned and took up his resi- 
dence in New Brunswick, New Jersey. 

Proof that the Japanese are a grateful people, not 
forgetting old friends and faithful service, is shown in 
a memorial dinner given in Tokyo in 1908, three years af- 
ter the death of Doctor Murray. To Professor Pujisawa, 
who fills the chair of Mathematics in the Imperial Uni- 
versity in Tokyo, belongs the honor of inaugurating the 
very unusual idea of honoring the memory of Doctor 
Murray and his work for Education by a memorial 
banquet after his death and thirty years after he had left 
Japan. Professor Fujisawa wrote to Mrs. Murray ask- 
ing for as complete a list as possible of the Japanese 
with whom she and Doctor Murray had been associated, 
both officially and socially while living in Japan. This 
was a difficult task, so many years having elapsed since 
their departure. With infinite pains, however, the Pro- 
fessor searched far and near for those still living and his 
labor of love was crowned with wonderful success. 

The following account of this entertainment is taken 
from the Japan Times, Tokyo : 



14 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

Doctor Murray Memorial Dinner. 



A NOTABLE GATHERING IN TOKYO, ATTENDED BY A HUNDRED 
SCHOLARS, PROFESSORS, AND PIONEER EDUCATORS. 



[From the Japan "Times," Tokyo, April 23, 1908.] 

''Of the various social functions, one that is at once 
beautiful and ennobling in sentiment, and most appealing 
to the best side of human nature, is, perhaps, a gathering 
of people to do posthumous homage to their common 
friend or perchance benefactor. Of the latter class was 
the dinner given at the Peers Club on Monday night in 
memory of the late Dr. David Murray of New Brunswick, 
N. J., U. S. A. The dinner was a complete success in 
every respect, attended by one hundred scholars, pro- 
fessors, and pioneer educators, among whom were the 
minister of education, Baron Makino; Prince Iwakura, 
Marquis Kido, Barons Hamao, Kikuchi, and Takahashi, 
Professors Yamakawa, Fujisawa, Ambassador Tsudzuki, 
and others. 

''About six o'clock the gathering, having elected 
Baron Makino to the chair, sat to listen to Professor 
Fujisawa, who told how the meeting was conceived. Pro- 
ceeding, he said that when in February, 1904, war broke 
out with Russia, the world stood 'dumbfounded as to 
what Japan was going to do next. ' As the course of the 
tide began to be seen the world again wondered as to 
whence Japan derived her secret of success. 'No doubt, 
it is the aggregate result of innumerable causes combined 
and digested. But the world seems to be unanimous in 
attributing it to that thoroughgoing system of national 
education, so ably expounded recently by Baron Kikuchi 
in his London University lectures.' It was the system 
of which the foundation was laid 'while Doctor Murray 
was here as adviser to the Department of Education.' 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 15 

'But a man,' continued the speaker, 'with such large ex- 
perience in educational matters and gifted with wonder- 
ful talent for the organization of educational systems, 
as Doctor Murray acknowledgedly was, placed in such a 
position at such a juncture, could not have failed to do 
the most useful work.' 

"It was in June, 1873, that Doctor Murray with Mrs. 
Murray arrived in Japan, and from that time onward for 
nearly six years he set his 'heart and soul to the various 
tasks entrusted to him by the Japanese Government, 
such as the carrying out and in some respects remodel- 
ling the elementary school system, the outline of which 
had been drawn before his advent, nourishing the germ 
of the present Imperial Tokyo University, laying the 
foundation of women's education in Japan, which saw 
its beginning in the establishment of Tokyo Women's 
High Normal School,' and so on. Voluminous reports, 
prepared and submitted by Doctor Murray, both during 
his stay here and after his return to America, are still 
preserved in the archives of the Department of Educa- 
tion, and bear testimony to the intense zeal and diligence 
with which he devoted himself to the work entrusted to 
him. Doctor Murray wrote the book entitled 'Japan' for 
the series of the Story of the Nations. 

"Doctor and Mrs. Murray left Japan early in 1879, 
and, after their return to America, Doctor Murray held 
a most important post in the State University of New 
York. Mr. Ibuka followed Professor Fujisawa, and told 
of a visit he recently paid to the widow of Doctor Murray 
at New Brunswick. One thing which roused a good deal 
of curiosity was a batch of autographic inscriptions, 
which, being now in Mrs. Murray's possession, Mr. Ibuka 
was asked by the good lady to decipher, and a copy of 
which he brought home and recited for the benefit of the 
meeting. The inscriptions happened to be those sent to 
Doctor Murrav on the occasion of a send-off in his honor 



16 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

about three decades ago, and consisted of poetical effu- 
sions by the foremost statesmen and scholars of the day, 
such as Prince Sanjo, Koin Kido, Toshimichi Okubo, 
Viscount Tanaka, Marquis Saigo, Baron Hamao, and so 
on. Overflowing with sentiments of friendship and good 
wishes, they were all listened to with intense interest. 

**The hour for dinner approaching, the chairman next 
rose and in a brief but pithy speech eulogized the late 
Doctor Murray, who died at his home on March 6, 1905. 
In thirty years most people are forgotten by the public, 
especially when they are dead. Here was Doctor Murray, 
who came to Japan in the early ^'■ears of Meiji and whose 
stay was not so very long, it extending over less than 
six years. But he, the chairman, and friends were now 
met to do honor to the memory of the dead. If the act 
was beautiful in spirit, it bespoke the high appreciation 
in which the work done by Doctor Murray was held in 
Japan. Doctor Murray came to Japan when the educa- 
tional administration of the country was in a state of 
confusion, or at least in the initial state of reorganiza- 
tion, and he it was who assisted in laying the foundation 
of the system which had now attained a high phase of 
completion. The Baron believed that Doctor Murray 
was one of those Americans whose names would be per- 
petuated in Japan along with those of Commodore Perry, 
Townsend Harris, Doctor Verbeck, and others. 

''Before closing, the chairman proposed that a vote of 
thanks be given to Professor Fujisawa, to whom all 
present owed so much for the success of the gathering. 
The proposal was, of course, most enthusiastically 
supported. 

''The dining hall was opened at seven, and the feast, 
which was a most sumptuous one, was thoroughly en- 
joyed. In due course. Baron Makino proposed the health 
of Mrs. Murray, and three banzai were given with en- 
thusiasm. Doctor Baelz, who speaks English as if it 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 17 

were his mother tongue, recalled the days when Doctor 
Murray and he were living in KagayashiM. In those 
days their cottages stood in lots opened up in a grass- 
grown field, so to say, where they often surprised foxes. 
It was even the spot where to-day the grand edifices of 
the highest seat of learning in Japan stand, an institu- 
tion developed out of the plan of national education laid 
down by Doctor Murray. After Doctor Baelz's speech 
the party rose; but before so doing three cheers were 
given for Professor Fujisawa and the chairman. Ad- 
journing upstairs, the gathering examined a collection 
of mementos connected with Doctor Murray, and talked 
well on to midnight, recalling the past. 

''In conclusion. Professor Fujisawa said: 'Doctor 
and Mrs. Murray's relations with our countrymen con- 
stitute surely one of the innumerable strong fibres which, 
interwoven together, form that iron bond of friendship 
bridging the Pacific and uniting the two nations on the 
opposite shores, as comrades in the noble work of pro- 
moting the great message of peace.' " 

The Educational Department of Japan also rendered 
an unusual token of remembrance when in February, 
1910, Baron Dairoku Kikuchi came to lecture in New 
York under the auspices of the Civic Forum. 

Baron Kikuchi was President of the Academy of 
Literature and Science established by Doctor Murray, 
and was also President of the Kioto University. He was 
commissioned by the President of the Educational De- 
partment to visit Mrs. Murray at New Brunswick and to 
honor Doctor Murray's memory at his grave with an 
address in Japanese. He also placed two magnificent 
wreaths upon his tomb. 

It was a unique ceremony, and was Avitnessed by the 
Japanese Consul of New York, Doctor Takamine, the 



18 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

President and Trustees of Rutgers College and relatives 
and friends of Doctor Murray. 

The resolutions authorizing the Baron to pay suitable 
respects to Doctor Murray follow: 

Imperial Academy Resolutions. 

At the general meeting of the Teikoku Gakushi In 
(Imperial Academy), held on the 12th of December, 1909, 
it was unanimously 

^'' Resolved, That, as Baron Dairoku Kikuchi, a mem- 
ber of this Academy and holding the office of president of 
the same, is about to proceed to America, he shall be in- 
structed to visit, as the representative of this Academy, 
the grave of the late Dr. David Murray, some time Sup- 
erintendent of Education in the Department of Educa- 
tion, at whose representation this Academy was estab- 
lished, there to pay proper respects to him. 

''Many eminent services rendered to our country by 
Dr. D. Murray, who was invited to Japan as Superin- 
tendent of Education, at the time when the basis of our 
educational system was not yet firmly established, are 
well known, and as I [Minister of Education] understand 
that you are going to visit his grave, representing the 
Imperial Academy, I request you to act on that occasion 
also as the representative of the Department of Educa- 
tion, and to pay due respects to him. 

' ' Yettaeo Komatsubaea. ' ' 

The Baron gave a lecture in the Chapel of Rutgers 
College and was entertained at luncheon by Mrs. Murray 
and at dinner by President Demarest of Rutgers College. 
An album containing a collection of appropriate photo- 
graphs was presented to him. 

On taking up his residence in New Brunswick Doctor 
Murray devoted himself to literary work. 

Being asked by the Putnams to write for their series 



BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 19 

the ''Story of Japan," he took infinite pains to verify 
all that he wrote in this book, which was published in 
1894. At the time of his death in 1905 he was preparing 
to bring this work down to that date. It was a great 
disappointment to him that he was not able to accomplish 
it. Viscount Kentaro Kanako, LL.D., however, in recog- 
nition of Doctor Murray's services to Japan, made a 
valuable addition to the book, including the Russo- 
Japanese War and its diplomatic correspondence. 

About 1896 Doctor Murray wrote for the United 
States Government bureau at Washington the "History 
of Education in New Jersey." 

For the extensive book on the Public Service of the 
State of New York he contributed that portion relating 
to the organization and work of the Regents. 

While in Rutgers College he published a "Manual on 
Land Surveying." In 1873 he prepared a popular ex- 
position of the transit of Venus, and in 1874 he aided 
Professor Davidson and party at Nagasaki at the time 
of the transit. 

He contributed to and edited the "History of Dela- 
ware County," New York. For the Philadelphia Cen- 
tennial he prepared the volume on "Japanese Educa- 
tion," and for the American Historical Association an 
article giving an account of the "Anti-Rent Episode," 
an agitation which sprang up in the state of New York 
about the year 1839, pervading all the counties of the 
eastern portion of the state where the leasehold system 
of land tenure prevailed, and lasting six or seven years. 

In 1876 he prepared and published a pamphlet and 
open letter to Congress urging the restoration of the 
Japanese Indemnity Fund, $750,000. 

"Early History of Queen's College" in 1871. 

"The Mission of the Regents of the University of 
the State of New York" in 1898. 



20 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

"Development of Modern Education in Japan" for 
the Union University Quarterly in 1904. 

''Handbook of the Grounds and Buildings, Memorials^ 
Portraits and Busts of Rutgers College ' ' in 1904. 

He lectured on Japan at Union University in 1897 and 
at Johns Hopkins University in 1897 and 1899. 

He received the degree of Ph.D. from the University 
of the State of New York in 1863 and that of LL.D from 
Union and Rutgers Colleges. 

Doctor Murray was a man who, wherever his residence 
might be, made himself felt in the community for good. 

He was not a great talker, but the word of encourage- 
ment fitly spoken wherever needed, of appreciation of 
work well done and of counsel to the student was never 
wanting, as the numerous testimonies since his death 
give evidence with a most pathetic tenderness. He was 
a wise, calm, self-reliant man, eminently modest, not 
elated by success nor disturbed by failure. He gave 
time and thought more than he could well spare to the 
tasks of others which devolved upon him, and the days 
were not long enough for the services which he was ready 
to undertake in behalf of objects dear to his heart. His 
motto was ''Charity beareth all things, believeth all 
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." 

He married in 1867 Martha A. Neilson of New York 
City, daughter of Edward Henry Neilson; her father 
having died when she was four years old and her mother 
in her infancy, she was adopted by her grandfather, 
Dr. John Neilson. 

Doctor Murray was trustee of Union University, Rut- 
gers College and the Albany Academy ; Secretary of the 
Board of Trustees of Rutgers, Treasurer of John Wells 
Memorial Hospital of New Brunswick for ten years, and 
Secretary and Treasurer of the special Committee of the 
New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He executed 
these latter duties up to March 1st, 1905. 



BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 21 

He died March 6th, ending a life of more than fifty 
years of almost ceaseless activity. 

He was a member of the Fort Orange Club while in 
Albany; the University Club, New York City; the City 
Club of New Brunswick; President and Counsellor of 
the Asiatic Society, in Japan; honorary member of the 
Imperial Educational Society, Tokyo, Japan; a member 
of the New Jersey Historical Society, and the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science. 

His death Avas observed in Japan by a sketch of his 
life and work published in the Japanese '^ Educational 
Magazine ' ' by Viscount Tanaka, who as Vice-Minister of 
Education was associated with Doctor Murray through- 
out his connection with Japan. The Japanese Minister 
and Peace Commissioner Takahira in a public speech 
accredited David Murray as the man who laid the founda- 
tion of their modern system of education. 

Prime Minister Iwakura said at a public dinner ''You 
have opened to us a pathway to the world of knowledge. 
No longer shall we wander from the true way." 

The Japanese Minister at Washington and the Consul 
General in New York were represented at his funeral, 
bestowing magnificent wreaths upon his grave. 



LETTERS AND TESTIMONIALS 

ON THE OCCASION OF DOCTOR 
MURRAY'S LEAVING JAPAN 



LETTERS AND TESTIMONIALS 

ON THE OCCASION OF DOCTOR MURRAY'S 
LEAVING JAPAN 

Letter from His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Japan. 

"It is now many years since you accepted the invita- 
tion of the Department of Education of my Government 
to enter its service. You have performed your duty with 
great fidelity and have given important aid to my sub- 
jects in the administration of educational affairs. I am 
therefore greatly pleased with your services and ap- 
preciate highly your zeal and ability. ' ' 



Letter from His Excellency Saigo Tsuhumichi, Minister 

of Education. 

''Tokyo, Japan. 
''Mombusho. 

''December 18, 1878. 
"Dr. David Murray, 

"Dear Sir: It is now five and a half years since you 
accepted the invitation of the Department of Education 
and entered its service in order to contribute your val- 
uable assistance in managing the Educational Affairs of 
the country. It is chiefly due to your efficient labors that 
during this period great improvements in our educa- 
tional system have been effected and results so remark- 
able and satisfactory have been attained. 

"In view of the approaching close of your period of 
service, I beg to express to you my sincere thanks for the 
earnestness and ability with which you have discharged 



26 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

your duties and to ask your acceptance of the present 
named in the accompanying paper. 

"With high consideration, yours, 

^'Saigo Tsukumichi, 
''Minister of Education." 

His Excellency Vice-Minister of Education Tanaka 
Fujimaro, now Viscount Tanaka, spoke as follows at a 
farewell dinner given to Doctor and Mrs. Murray : 

''Having the privilege of attending this farewell en- 
tertainment given in view of the departure of Doctor 
and Mrs. Murray for America, I avail myself of this op- 
portunity to express in common with all the ladies and 
gentlemen here present my sincere wishes for their future 
happiness and prosperity as well as the deep feeling of 
respect which this occasion of parting brings to my heart. 

"Five and a half years ago Doctor Murray, having 
accepted the invitation of the Department of Education, 
entered on his duties the 6th month of the 6th year of 
Meiji (June, 1873). During the entire term of his en- 
gagement without the least interruption he has been 
busily occupied with his duties in connection with edu- 
cational matters which he has fulfilled in the most faith- 
ful and efficient manner. It gives me great pleasure to 
testify to his courtes^^ and promptness in furnishing in- 
formation when consulted and in advising the affairs of 
the Department. 

"It will be interesting if I enumerate some of the 
most conspicuous results of our educational progress 
accomplished during his term of service. 

"First, I will mention the development of the Tokyo 
University, which from a small beginning in 1873 has 
been brought to its present efficient condition, and thus 
the foundation laid for higher education in our country. 
That the establishment of the female normal school and 



LETTBES AND TESTIMONIALS 27 

of the Kindergarten has been accomplished and thus 
female education has received a great impulse and the 
training of small children has been introduced. An edu- 
cational museum has been established and a great variety 
of valuable and instructive material collected, and the 
means thus provided for showing our people the educa- 
tional methods of other countries. 

'^ Besides all this I must not omit to mention the fact 
that the establishment and improvement of the regula- 
tions in regard to courses of study in our schools and 
colleges under the control of the Department have been 
mostly effected through his co-operation. 

''In regard to the intercourse so long maintained be- 
tween Doctor Murray and myself, I can only say that 
both in official and private relations it has always been 
most satisfactory. His mild and graceful speech has 
left behind in my heart pleasing impressions^ and I can- 
not but think that he, too, after he has left our country, 
will often dream of our labors in behalf of education 
here. As for me, the recollection of his smiling face will 
never be forgotten. 

"I will conclude my remarks by saying that the 
brilliant results that he has attained in his service here 
will long continue to be felt in their influence on our 
literary and scholastic interest. They will shine in our 
Oriental Empire with the same brilliancy as the splendid 
decoration His Majesty the Emperor has bestowed on 
him for his special services and which to-night he wears. 

"And one of the most notable and gratifying facts 
in our educational history, a fact which will be perpetual 
in its importance and in our grateful remembrance, 
is the career we have met to signalize and celebrate 
to-night. ' ' 



28 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

Mr. Nomura, now Baron Nomura, Chief of Bureau, 
spoke as follows: 

''Having been invited to join in this farewell banquet 
to Doctor Murray, I desire to say a few words. My 
connection with him has been not merely the constant 
transaction of official business, but has long passed into 
personal and private friendship. The great value of 
Doctor Murray's services to education in our country 
has already been referred to by the Minister and Vice- 
Minister of Education, and I need not say more. But I 
have been associated with him in the same Bureau for 
many years. I have had better opportunities than any 
others in the Department to observe both his earnest 
-devotion to his duties and his kind and amiable character. 
I do not think that he has ever wasted even a single 
minute. He has always been busy and always ready in 
the most obliging and satisfactory manner to give his 
assistance. I confess my great obligations to him in all 
the matters of educational business. I know not how to 
express my regret at his departure from our country. 
I feel as deeply as if I were called upon to part with an 
honored teacher or a dear father. I hear that he is to 
take a journey through India, Egypt and Europe to his 
home in America, and may be exposed to heat and fa- 
tigue. May he therefore take care of his health. ' ' 

^'Dr. David Murray: 

''In accordance with the request of the Minister of 
Education you have kindly aided him by suggestions and 
advice in regard to the building for an Observatory. 
The Observatory is now complete and in all respects 
satisfactory. I beg to express to you our sincere grati- 



LETTERS AND TESTIMONIALS 29 

tude for your assistance and send to you in token of our 
appreciation the articles enumerated in the accompany- 
ing paper. 

' ' Trusting that you will accept these, 

''I am, Yours Respectfully, 

"H. Kato, 
"President of the Tokyo University. 

'a9th day of the 9th month of the 11th year of 

Meiji." (1878.) 



''Tokyo Daigaku (University of Tokyo). 
''Tokyo, Japan, December 23, 2538 (1878). 

^'Doctor Murray, 

' ' Dear Sir : I cannot help taking occasion to express 
our gratitude for the services you have kindly rendered 
in regard to instruction in this University while you have 
been in the service of the Department of Education. I am 
conscious of the great benefits you have thereby con- 
ferred on this Institution. 

"As you are about to return home I take this oppor- 
tunity to send you as a sign of our appreciation of your 
services the articles enumerated in the accompanying 
paper. 

"Yours Respectfully, 

"H. Kato, 
' ' Sori of the Departments of Law, Science and Litera- 
ture, Tokio Daigaku." 



30 DAVID MUERAY: IN MEMORIAM 

The following diplomatic notice of Doctor Mur- 
ray's departure from Japan was taken by the Charge 
d' Affaires of the United States in Japan. 

''United States Legation, 
"Japan, 
"Tokyo, December 23, 1878. 
"Hon. Wm. M. Evarts, 

' ' Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. : 

"On the 18th instant Dr. David Murray, the American 
gentleman who has acted for the past five years in the 
capacity of Adviser to the Japanese Department of Edu- 
cation, received from His Majesty the Emperor the 
decoration of the third-class of the Order of Merit, and 
from the Department of Education a present of two 
thousand yen. Doctor Murray's engagement has ter- 
minated and he is about to return to the United States. 
The marks of distinction conferred on him by the Jap- 
anese Government, well deserved as they are, are as 
gratifying to his countrymen in Japan as they must be 
to himself. No foreigner in the service of the Govern- 
ment has had a nobler field than he, and none, I am sure, 
have acquitted themselves more creditably. 

"The advance of education in this empire within the 
past five years has been one of the most encouraging 
signs of the progress of Japan. Not only is this true of 
the training in the colleges of this and other cities of large 
numbers of students in the sciences, professions and 
foreign languages, but also of the general diffusion of 
knowledge by the systematization of primary education 
and the establishment of normal schools in all parts of 
the country. The attention paid to bettering the con- 
dition of the women of Japan by establishing institutions 
for their higher education, is not the least noticeable 
feature of the work done by the Department of Educa- 
tion during Doctor Murray's term of service. In this, 



LETTEES AND TESTIMONIALS 31 

as in other directions, the officials of that department 
cordially acknowledge their obligations to his trained 
knowledge and intelligent advice. 

''I have the honor to be, sir, 

"Your obedient servant, ' 

"D. W. Stevens." 



The Tokyo Tim.es, the leading foreign paper in Japan, 
in a notice of Doctor Murray's departure, says: 

"During his extended residence here Doctor Murray 
enjoyed a degree of regard, and held a position of in- 
fluence which has been surpassed by no foreigner of 
any nationality." 

Speech of Judge Bingham, American Minister Pleni- 
potentiary to Japan, at the banquet given to Doctor 
Murray, October 4th, 1875, at the College of the Educa- 
tional Department, Tokyo, Japan: 

"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I pray you 
to accept my thanks for your kind expressions of regard 
to the President of the United States and also to myself. 
It has given me pleasure to witness on this and other 
occasions the courtesies which you have been pleased to 
extend to your special guest, my countryman. Doctor 
Murray. 

"That gentleman has been successfully engaged in 
the work of organizing in your midst a thorough system 
of general education for all the children of His Majesty's 
Empire, by which this people may become possessed of 
that knowledge which is power, which is the strength of 
nations and the safety of men — ^mightier than armies — 
mightier than navies — in that it enables individual and 
collective man, the citizen and the State to lay all the 



32 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

elements of external nature under contribution and make 
them minister to their wants and comforts. 

''This work, happily begun by my distinguished 
friend under favor of His Majesty and with the aid of 
His Majesty's Ministers, is worthy of your best en- 
deavors, and will in its faithful prosecution tax the best 
powers of the human intellect. 

''In the efforts of the Empire to attain to the high- 
est civilization of this time, the foremost civilization 
of any time within the range of human history, Japan 
has no more sincere friend than the United States of 
America. Being the first to bring Japan into friendly 
treaty relations with the western world, the United States 
will be the last to seek by any means to weaken this 
people in the family of nations or to lay hands upon any 
part of their fair and beautiful domain. By the ordi- 
nances of nature, Japan now and for evermore has the 
commerce of the East and half the population of the West, 
including Europe and America, North and South. 

"As the representative of the United States of 
America, I but echo the wishes of my people and their 
President when I say that I trust that the growing Em- 
pire of the East may become one of the foremost of 
nations, and that prosperity may attend His Majesty of 
Japan and all the people of Japan. ' ' 



LETTERS AND TESTIMONIALS 

ON THE OCCASION OF DOCTOR 
MURRAY'S DEATH 



LETTERS AND TESTIMONIALS 

ON THE OCCASION OF DOCTOR 
MURRAY'S DEATH 



Telegram. 

''Washington, March 8th, 1905. 
''To President Scott, 

"Rutgers College: 
"I learn with profound sorrow of the death of 
Dr. David Murray, who not only rendered so important 
service for the education of Japanese people, but ex- 
hibited so vivid interest in the progress and welfare of 
our people. Please convey to his family the expression 
of my deep condolence and heartfelt sympathy. 

"Consul General Uchida is asked to represent me at 
his funeral. 

"KoGOEO Takahiea, 
"Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 
of Japan." 

"June 6, 1905. 
Words of Condolence. 

"Dr. David Murray, honorary member of the Im- 
perial Society of Education, was the adviser to the 
Imperial Department of Education when first the system 
of education for the present era of Meiji was organized. 

"The educational progress so far achieved in this 
country is the result of his energy and enthusiasm in 
then suggesting many plans and schemes to the au- 
thorities with such zeal and ardor. Moreover, after the 
expiration of his term of service and his return to his 
own country, his lectures on the history of Japanese 



36 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

education at Johns Hopkins University and his works on 
the history of Japan were worthy and successful means 
of letting foreigners know the real condition of Japanese 
civilization. 

''The benefits we thus obtained are manifold, and we 
are deeply grieved to know that he is now gone for- 
ever. "We, with the greatest sympathy, offer this letter 
of condolence to the bereaved. 

"Shinji Tsuji, 

''President of the Imperial Society of Education,^ 
Tokyo, Japan." 



fflS RELATIONS TO RUTGERS 
COLLEGE 

BY AUSTIN SCOTT, Ph.D., LL.D. 

During a third of the years of his life Doctor Murray- 
served the interests of Rutgers College. Every record 
which mentions his name, whether in the books of minutes 
of the Faculty or of the Trustees or in The Targum, 
the students' publication, testifies to the nobility of his 
character, the fidelity and success of his service and the 
affectionate regard in which he was held. ' ' Doctor Mur- 
ray, ' ' say the students in March, 1873, ' ' during ten years 
of vigorous and successful labor in this institution has 
shown himself to be a most excellent instructor and an 
admirable disciplinarian." ''No more responsible trust 
could be committed to one man than the one to which the 
Mikado has called our beloved professor. ' ' On this same 
occasion, in January, the Faculty unanimously adopted 
the following resolution : 

"Our associate, Prof. David Murray, having re- 
ceived an appointment as Counseling Director of the 
Department of Educational Affairs in the Empire of 
Japan, which he desires to accept, we would respect- 
fully ask the Board of Trustees to grant him leave of 
absence from his duties in Rutgers College, rather than 
accept his resignation. Professor Murray has been a 
member of this Faculty for ten years, during the whole 
of which time he has not been absent a day from his 
duties in college, but has always been the punctual, la- 
borious, accomplished and successful teacher. He has 
endeared himself to us all, and we look upon his de- 
parture from us as a loss to ourselves and to the college ; 



38 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

but the office to which he is called is one of such superior 
honor and usefulness that we cannot urge his giving it 
up without further examination. We ask for him this 
leave of absence, so that should he desire to return he 
may find his place still open and friends ready to welcome 
him back." 

The suggestion was followed by the Trustees, who 
declined to accept the resignation, oifering him a leave 
of absence instead ; but after three years, as his stay in 
Japan was likely to be continued for several years longer, 
the repeated request was granted and the resignation re- 
luctantly accepted, ''with the hope that on his permanent 
return home his close relations to the College may be 
renewed." This hope was realized. 

The Board of Trustees, in noting the death of David 
Murray, LL.D., member of the Board, and lately its Sec- 
retary, passed the following minute : 

MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

' ' The death of Dr. David Murray, on the day preced- 
ing the last meeting of the Trustees, ended a most dis- 
tinguished and useful life. He had been a member of this 
Board for thirteen years, having been elected March 1st, 
1892, and he was its efficient Secretary from October, 
1898, till he relinquished that office in October, 1904. His 
entire life was devoted to the work of education, first as 
a teacher and afterward as an organizer of schools and 
an authority on educational methods. On his graduation 
from Union College, in 1852, he became an instructor in 
the Albany Academy, and was Principal of that institu- 
tion from 1857 to 1863. During the following ten years 
he filled with eminent efficiency and success the Profes- 
sorship of Mathematics and Astronomy in this college, 
which he resigned in 1873, in order to undertake, at the 



LETTEES AND TESTIMONIALS 39 

invitation of the Japanese Government, the work of or- 
ganizing a system of public instruction in that empire. 
This unusual and important task he performed with sig- 
nal ability. It is not too much to say that the Japanese 
nation owes its recent extraordinary development in no 
small degree to the modest American scholar who aided 
in establishing its excellent system of education. The 
obligation has been amply and repeatedly recognized by 
both Government and people. 

"On his return, after six years, to this country. Doc- 
tor Murray was made Secretary of the Regents of the 
University of the State of New York. He retired from 
that position by reason of a severe illness in 1889, and 
passed the remaining years of his life in this city, en- 
gaged in literary and other labors, for which he was 
peculiarly fitted by his character and experience. His 
services to this institution have been various and con- 
stant. All his work was done with a beautiful thorough- 
ness and accuracy, and his spirit was so modest and 
genial that it was a delight to be associated with him. 
He was a man of broad views, of sound judgment, of a 
refined and charming courtesy and of the highest Chris- 
tian principle. His work as an educator and an author 
will live after him ; he will be sadly missed in the Church 
and the community, and his memory will long be cher- 
ished in Japan as well as in this country as that of a rare 
Christian scholar and gentleman. 

"Doctor Murray received the degree of Ph.D. from 
the University of the State of New York in 1863; and 
that of LL.D. from Rutgers College in 1873, and from 
Union College in 1874. 

"The Trustees adopt this minute not merely as a 
formal acknowledgment of his services to this College, 
but as an expression of their personal regard for their 



40 DAVID MIJERAY: IN MEMORIAM 

late associate and of their sympathy with his family in 
their bereavement. 

^'Rutgers College, New Brunswick, March 18th, 1905. 

'^ Edward B. Coe, 
''Austin Scott, 
"John B. Druky_, 
''Henry L. Janeway, 
"J. Preston Searle," 



PRESENTATION OF PORTRAIT 

DR, AUSTIN SCOTT 

''Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Board of Trus- 
tees : On behalf of Mrs. Murray I am to offer to you the 
gift of this portrait of Dr. David Murray. I bespeak 
your grateful acceptance, for I consider it no mean dis- 
tinction for our College, that it may be placed among the 
treasures which you hold in trust. 

"Had the gracious giver chosen to bestow this gift 
on that college from which Doctor Murray received his 
first degree, whose interests were dear to him, and which 
he also served for years in his place on its governing 
board, the act would have met with ready and general 
approval. At Union College he was 'the best student, 
the best scholar, the best fellow, the best man' of his 
day there in the early fifties — such is the tribute of his 
college mate and friend, Mr. Brownell. 

"Had this portrait been placed in the hands of the 
Regents of the great State of New York, to commemorate 
his services as secretary of that important board of edu- 
cation, no one could have cavilled, for in that office he 
was 'bulwark, pilot and friend.' As one of his contem- 
poraries has testified, — 'there was no regent that did not 
make him mentor and guide; there was no experi- 
enced regent that did not lean upon him with absolute 
confidence. ' 

"Our neighbors of the Theological Seminary on yon- 
der hill, out of the abundance of their gratitude, that 'he 
gave in his riper years so much of his best to the school 
of the Prophets of the church he loved, ' would have wel- 
comed this gift. 

"We may be sure that the Imperial Government of 
Japan, with that perfect courtesy, which is a national 



42 DAVID MUERAY: IN MEMORIAM 

characteristic, would have received with joy this por- 
trait of the man, whose memory it honors, as of one who 
did so much to make that realm a giant among the 
nations. The evidence of the appreciative good will of 
its Emperor has been skilfully depicted by the artist in 
his portrayal of the decoration of the Order of the Rising 
Sun which is here shown hanging on the breast. 

''But it is to our College, whose interest Doctor Mur- 
ray served, as professor and trustee, for a third of the 
years of his life, that this favor has come. I charge you, 
Mr. President and gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, 
by the tenderness you feel for his memory, by the honor 
you would pay to services unstintedly given from the 
highest motives and with the utmost of zeal, fidelity and 
wisdom, by respect that you owe to the generous giver, 
who shared his noblest purposes and his flawless life, 
that you guard well this gift. Make for it a distinguished 
place upon the wall of this Chapel, where hang the por- 
traits of those worthies, who in their respective genera- 
tions and in their several relations to this dear College, 
have inspired its members, its students, alumni, teachers, 
governors, friends, with the noblest purposes which this 
mortal life can hold. ' ' 

Kirkpatrick Chapel, Rutgers College, June 19th, 1907. 



DOCTOR MURRAY AND THE NEW 

BRUNSW^ICK THEOLOGICAL 

SEMINARY 

BY PROF. J. PRESTON SEARLE, D.D. 

Dr. David Murray was elected by the General Synod 
of the Reformed Church in America, in 1895, a member 
of its Standing Committee on Seminary Grounds and 
Property at New Brunswick, N. J., to fill an unexpired 
term. He was re-elected for a full term of five years in 
1899, and again in 1904. In 1900, on the death of Mr. 
Frederick T. Kirk, he was chosen by the Committee as 
its Secretary and Treasurer, holding this double office 
until his death. In the same year he was also chosen 
a representative of the Standing Committee upon Gen- 
eral Synod's Special Committee on the Finances of the 
Seminary. 

This is the technical record of his official relationship 
to the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, but it is a 
very imperfect index to the quantity, variety and value 
of his services to the institution. The work of the Stand- 
ing Committee is complicated, the funds the income of 
which it administers are many, and its responsibilities 
beside its financial ones are great. With a wide experi- 
ence on both the business and personal sides of the work 
of education, he brought a naturally accurate judgment, 
highly trained, to the solution of the many problems of 
finance and control which confronted the Standing Com- 
mittee a decade ago and which are ever recurring. He 
also brought a genial spirit, an unfailing sense of kindly 
humor, and the sweet influence of a matured Christian 
courtesy into our counsels. At every point and in mani- 
fold ways he was a helper whose wisdom was revered and 
whose companionship was prized. He devised a new 



44 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

system of keeping the various accounts which is pro- 
nounced admirable by experts, and the clearness of which 
facilitates constantly the work of the Committee. He 
wrought well and abidingly in other directions for the 
student, the teacher and the institution. 

His last appearance outside his home was at one of 
our meetings. The hand of death was upon him and the 
shadow of impending loss was on our hearts, but his own 
courage and cheer made the hour one to which we can 
look back with thankfulness. 

Doctor Murray's v/ork in other and very different edu- 
cational fields, in Albany, in Rutgers College, in Japan, 
was large and broad, at some points absolutely unique, 
and in respect of results simply beyond measure, and we 
of the Seminary will ever rejoice that in his ripest years 
he could and did give so much of his best to the School of 
the Prophets of the Church he loved. 

Extract from the Minutes of General Synod's Stand- 
ing Committee on Seminary Grounds and Property, 
April 11th, 1895. 

''David Murray was born of Scotch ancestry October 
15, 1830, at Bovina, Delaware County, New York. He 
graduated from Union College in 1852. From 1857 to 
1863 he was Principal of the Albany Academy, and from 
1863 to 1873 he was Professor of Mathematics in Rutgers 
College, where he came into the twofold relationship of 
teacher and friend with many of the present graduates 
of this Seminary, for which they will always be grateful. 
In 1873 he was called to be Adviser to the Minister of 
Education of Japan. This position he filled during the 
organization of the educational system of the Empire. 
His part in molding, through this system, the modern 
Japanese civilization is simply beyond our power to 
measure. A unique opportunity, bringing with it stu- 
pendous responsibility, was modestly but promptly and 



LETTEES AND TESTIMONIALS 45 

effectively met by Mm, and ages bid fair to exhaust them- 
selves before all the broad, rich harvest of his sowing 
shall be gathered in. 

''Returning from Japan in 1879, he served as Secre- 
tary of the Regents of the State of New York until 1889. 
The remaining years of his life were spent in this city in 
literary pursuits and in the service of various public in- 
stitutions, of which this Seminary was one. 

''He became a member of the Standing Committee in 
1895, and on the death of Mr. Frederick T. Kirk, in 1899, 
its Secretary and Treasurer. For the last five years also 
he represented this Committee on General Synod's Spe- 
cial Committee on the Finances of the Seminary. 

"In all these relations he was faithful, energetic, and 
wise; devoting to the service of the institution much 
valuable time, a rare equipment of combined accuracy in 
detail and breadth of view, and the large wealth of his 
varied experience. 

"He passed to the higher service of the Lord he loved, 
March 6, 1905. 

"As a Committee we shall miss the efficient officer, and 
each one of us personally, the genial and cherished friend 
and the consecrated Christian brother. 

(Signed) "J. Peeston Seaele, 
"W. H. S. Demaeest, 
"John S. Bussing, 

^^ Committee." 



PHI BETA KAPPA 

''April 6, 1905. 
"Mrs. David Murray. 

"Dear Madam: — 

"At the last regular meeting of the Rutgers Chapter 
of Phi Beta Kappa, the following minute was adopted by 
the society and I was charged with the duty of sending 
you a copy : 

" 'This Society has learned with profound sorrow of 
the death of its last surviving founder, Professor David 
Murray, LL.D. It was during the period of Doctor Mur- 
ray's active service in the Faculty of the College and 
largely as the result of his interested endeavors that this 
chapter was founded. Ever since those days his devotion 
to the interests and objects of our Society has been un- 
flagging. 

' ' ' We feel greatly afflicted at the announcement of his 
decease, personally bereaved at the departure from 
earthly circles of one whom all so greatly loved, and con- 
scious of a great loss to the Society in its meetings and its 
general work. 

" 'We venture to convey to Mrs. Murray our deep 
sympathy in her great loss. ' 

"F. C. VanDyck, 

"H. D'B MULFOED, 

'^Committee." 



HISTORICAL CLUB 

"The New Brunswick Historical Club sustains a 
grievous loss in the death of David Murray, Ph.D., LL.D., 
which occurred on the 6th of March, and the members of 
this Club desire to place in their permanent records their 
profound sense of this loss to them personally and to the 
various activities of the Association. 

'^ Doctor Murray was the last of the founders of the 
Club remaining in its recent membership. He was its 
first president and lately held that office ; he was always 
zealous and active in promoting its interests. He was 
wise and kindly; he was well trained and most useful, 
whether in the discharge of the large and responsible du- 
ties connected with the organization of the educational 
system of Japan, or of those resting upon him as Secre- 
tary of the Board of Eegents of New York, or as Pro- 
fessor in Rutgers College or Secretary of its Board of 
Trustees, or as member and officer in many ecclesiastical 
and charitable societies. 

"He was a man whom all his fellow citizens, in Al- 
bany for many years and in New Brunswick during his 
later life, counted it a privilege to honor. A lover of truth 
and devoted and painstaking in its service, he worked 
unstintedly and successfully in various fields of historic 
research and published the results of his labors in books 
and monographs for which this Club and all students of 
history owe to his memory a great debt. 

"A clear and far shining light has been withdrawn 
from our sight, but we feel that it is still unquenched. 
"For the Historical Club, 

"Austin" Scott, 
"John B. Dkuky, 
"Wm. H. Benedict, 

^^ Committee." 



JOHN W^ELLS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL 

"At the regular meeting of the Directors held Novem- 
ber 22, 1904, Doctor Murray, in a communication to the 
Board, said: 'I have now served ten years as Treasurer 
of John Wells Memorial Hospital.' After expressing the 
great satisfaction he had had 'in sharing in the manage- 
ment of this most useful and valuable charity,' he con- 
cluded : ' I now beg to notify the Board of Directors that 
it will not be possible for me to continue in this office 
longer than during the present fiscal year, which ends in 
March, 1905.' 

"These sadly prophetic words, received with regret, 
foreshadowed the end which came March 6, 1905. 

"Doctor Murray was elected a Director April 18, 
1890, and had therefore served as a member of the Board 
for fifteen years. October 1, 1894, he was elected Treas- 
urer, a position he continued to fill till death. The mem- 
bers of the Board desire to place on their records their 
appreciation of the great and varied service he heartily 
gave to the Hospital during all these years. 

"He brought to this work the same high and noble 
qualities that had distinguished him in other places of 
great usefulness and responsibility. A reading of the 
minutes of the Board will show that Doctor Murray took 
a large part in the development and management of the 
institution, both as Director and as Treasurer. His 
faculty for organization, his wide experience and sound 
judgment, often determined the plans pursued, and his 
watchfulness of its interests led to many fruitful sugges- 
tions which it was the pleasure of the Board to adopt. 

"He was unaffected, sincere and earnest; a gentle- 
man and a scholar in the best sense of the words. Al- 
though his widely-known work in the cause of education 
in his own country and in Japan had entitled him to rest 



52 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

and leisure, he gladly devoted his time and energy to the 
Hospital, and in other important relations. 

''His influence is inelfaceably impressed upon the 
work of the Hospital ; and the memory of his virtues will 
be cherished by the Hospital and its friends. 

''The Directors feel that in his death they have lost a 
beloved colleague, and that the Hospital has lost a useful 
friend and benefactor who cannot be replaced. 

' ' They tender their sympathy to his widow in her be- 
reavement. 

^^ Resolved, That this memorial minute be published 
in the daily papers of this city, and that a copy suitably 
engrossed be presented to his widow. 
(Signed) 

"JoH]s^ N. Caependee, President. 
"R. W. Pkentiss, Secretary." 



UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF 
NEW^ YORK 

Extract from the Journal of a meeting of the Board 
of Eegents, held at the Capitol on December 14, 1905. 

''We shall at best now do but very tardy justice to 
another and a very conspicuous former Secretary of the 
Board of Regents, Dr. David Murray, who died at his 
home in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on March 6, 1905. 
Born at Bovina, Delaware County, N. Y., on October 15, 
1830, he graduated at Union College in the class of 1852. 
He became principal of the Albany Academy in 1857 and 
retired from this position in 1863 to accept the Profes- 
sorship of Mathematics at Rutgers. In 1872 upon the 
request of the Japanese Empire he was designated by the 
Government of the United States to proceed to Japan and 
lay the foundations of the educational system of the peo- 
ple who have since developed such marked intellectual 
and industrial capacity and who in recent years have 
shown such striking forcefulness in war. Doctor Murray 
went to Japan in the spring of 1873 and performed his 
great task there with conspicuous acceptability. Soon 
after his return to the United States, in 1879, he was in- 
vited to the Secretaryship of the Board of Regents. He 
held this office from 1880 to 1889 inclusive. His appoint- 
ment was an extremely fortunate one for all of the inter- 
ests under the care of the Regents. He was the father of 
the academic examination system. He hoped that the 
system might uplift the scholarship and standing of the 
secondary schools as it has done, but he never anticipated 
or expected that it would go to the lengths that it has gone 
in shaping the curriculum and determining the policy of 
those schools. He did distinctly plan that the examina- 
tion system should be the means of procuring State aid 
to the secondary schools and in this he was successful 



54 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

beyond his highest expectations. Aside from initiating 
this conspicuous movement in the educational affairs of 
the State, Doctor Murray was at all times thoughtful, in- 
cisive and efficient in the service of the Board. He was 
a gentleman of the highest grade, a scholar of ripe and 
varied learning, a writer of charming accomplishments, 
and an administrator who was quiet, steady, balanced, 
persistent, and altogether successful in getting important 
things done. 

"We must look back upon his service to the Board 
and to the State with respect and we may express our 
regard for his beautiful and attractive character, and our 
sympathy for his devoted and afflicted wife, with all ap- 
propriateness." 

On motion of Regent Smith : 

Voted, Unanimously in a rising vote by the Board, 
that the statement of the Commissioner of Education, 
concerning the death of Dr. David Murray, be made the 
expression of the Board of Regents and with his por- 
trait be inserted in the journal of proceedings. 

A. S. Draper, Commissioner of Education. 

Tribute by the Hon. St. Clair McKelway, LL.D., 
L.H.D., D.C.L., Chancellor of the University of the State 
of New York : 

"Doctor Murray returned to Albany in December, 
1879. I went to Albany mid-August, 1879, to become 
editor of the Argus newspaper. To that city I was then 
a stranger. But I learned of Doctor Murray's successful 
headship of the Albany Academy, of his fine service in 
Rutgers College, and of his unique success in laying the 
foundation of public education in the Empire of Japan. 
So when Doctor Murray returned to Albany, in 1879, to 
become Secretary of the Board of Regents, I had learned 
much of him, and was able to express the public satisfac- 



LETTERS AND TESTIMONIALS 55 

tion upon his return. A distinguished Albanian, Robert 
H. Pruyn, had been United States Minister to Japan and 
had known Doctor Murray well. Albany was, therefore, 
no stranger to him, and as the study of Albany had be- 
come my duty and as Mr. Pruyn was my friend. Doctor 
Murray's career and character were not unknown to me. 

"My first association with Doctor Murray was in the 
Board of Trustees of the State Normal School in Albany. 
He sat in that Board while Secretary of the Board of 
Regents. I was chairman of the Committee in charge of 
the construction of the new buildings for the school. 
They were large and costly, but we were able to keep 
within the appropriation and to create a precedent, when 
we returned to the State some of the money we might 
have spent. Doctor Murray took great pride and pleas- 
ure in making that possible. In 1883, being elected a Re- 
gent myself, I came into even closer relations with Doctor 
Murray. There was no new Regent that did not make 
him his mentor and guide. There was no experienced 
Regent who did not lean upon him with absolute confi- 
dence. He was bulwark, pilot, and friend. 

"He had the respect and love of every Regent. When 
he felt constrained to resign the Secretaryship to con- 
serve his overworked strength, we realized that the State 
had lost an educational leader whose experience, judg- 
ment and character made him an ideal official. The 
Board erred when it at all departed from the course and 
the spirit which Doctor Murray illustrated, and it re- 
paired the error when it returned to the path he had 
marked out. 

"The subsequent service of Doctor Murray to learn- 
ing and to history was rendered in New Brunswick. 
With that I was only generally acquainted. 

"But I see by the records of educational work and of 
the literature of education that it was a high and fine 
service. He wrought his character into his life and he 



56 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

wrought his life into the forces of learning and of uplift. 
His was the honor that comes to the doers of first things 
that ought to be done. He opened up Japan to education. 
That was greater than opening it up to trade, although 
the leveling of barriers to intercourse cleared the way 
for knowledge, for civilization, for culture and for or- 
dered freedom. He raised the Albany Academy from 
feebleness to solvency, and from a narrow to a broad re- 
lation to teaching. As executive officer of the Board of 
Regents he put that establishment on the path of the 
great educational, examinational, scientific and library 
work which has since been expanded to common schools 
as well as over the institutions of academic, collegiate, 
university and professional culture. I was glad to learn 
when I last met him quite a year ago, that his benign 
activities and his great judicial faculties were at their 
best in causes worthy of them, valuable to the race and 
dear to him. 

"His knowledge was large. His habit of study was 
constant. His sense of duty was profound. The inroads 
he made on stored learning were always motived on the 
purpose to put that learning at the service of the race. 
The balance of his great qualities was as marked as the 
strength and value of the qualities themselves. He loved 
his country. He honored the State. He loved his fellow 
men, and he was never disobedient unto the heavenly duty 
and the heavenly vision of service, faith and human help 
and hope. ' ' 



STATE OF NEW^ YORK 

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 

"Albany, June 12, 1905. 
''Mrs. David Murray, 

''New Brunswick, New Jersey. 
"My dear Mrs. Murray: 

' ' I thank you very much for remembering me with the 
pamphlet in memory of your gentle and distinguished 
husband. No man whom it has been my fortune to know 
commanded a larger measure of my esteem and respect. 
I remember him first when I entered the Albany Academy 
just as he was about to leave, in 1863. He was an at- 
tractive and useful principal of the Academy, but there 
was larger educational work for him to do. He did the 
larger work and in a way which commanded the respect 
of the world. It was my good fortune to be associated 
with him at some points in the doing of that work, and 
always with an irresistible feeling of obligation to him. 
His service as Secretary of the Board of Eegents of this 
state was distinct and must always endure. It would 
have been better for the state if he had remained in its 
service to the end of his life. 

"I would like to know if you have, or if there is in ex- 
istence, an oil portrait of Doctor Murray which seems 
satisfactory to you. We should have such a portrait in 
the Department, and I will thank you for any assistance 
which may enable us to procure one. 

"With sentiments of esteem and best wishes for your 
good health, and with deep sympathy for you in your 
irreparable loss, I am, 

"Most sincerely yours, 

"A. S. Deafer, 
' ' Commissioner. ' ' 



RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD STUDENT 

THE REV. JOSEPH R. DURYEE, D.D. 

My introduction to Doctor Murray's classroom was 
at the beginning of my sophomore year in 1871. Our 
class, — we had no Scientific section — numbered about 
sixty men, and was regarded by the college authorities 
as the most unruly in a generation. On this account we 
had been divided and only a part came under Doctor 
Murray's instruction. The unwritten law of the class 
was that we must duly measure the capacity of each new 
professor to maintain order. The first day was a pre- 
lude, the second witnessed a conflict of authority, and 
some of our boys were past masters of the art of unset- 
tling classroom equilibrium. It took us but ten minutes 
to discover that Doctor Murray was both master of that 
situation, and of our subsequent behavior. What aston- 
ished us all was the perfect ease and courtesy with which 
he made us understand that order and close attention to 
work were necessities in his room. 

The next immediate lesson we learned from him was 
candor and good faith. In those days '^ cribbing" was 
generally practiced; — we found that this was a worse 
than useless expedient. It was said of Doctor Benson, 
Headmaster of Wellington, that it was a real treat to see 
the zealous satisfaction with which the future Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury chastised the boy found out in a 
lie. Of course we saw nothing of this in Doctor Murray, 
but he had his own way of correction, and it was both 
heartily administered and completely effective. What 
was most remarkable was that in doing this he never 
lost his poise. His tone was quiet, his manner gentle ; no 
one ever saw him angry or even ruffled, and still he 



60 DAVID MUEEAY: IN MEMORIAM 

disarmed the most refractory. He rode with a light 
hand, but we knew that the rein was always there, and 
after a few days he never needed to even tighten it. In 
this same way he corrected other faults. I do not think 
that Doctor Murray needed to study to bring his own 
moral influence to bear on our characters, — ^he did this 
unconsciously. And the boys could not help responding 
to this quiet but tense call of a master mind to follow him. 
His approval of us became our standard. We felt it was 
a great privilege to be numbered among his students. 
Doubtless his peers valued his urbanity and natural kind- 
ness, — we grew to glory in him. 

Of course boys of eighteen years of age are incapable 
of fully measuring the value of such a teacher, but I know 
we did our best to win his approval. 

As to his methods of teaching, I can only generalize. 
Doctor Murray certainly possessed what was then a rare 
art : he knew how to develop in his pupils the power of 
clear thinking for themselves. His explanations of diffi- 
cult problems in physics always led us to set about solv- 
ing them for ourselves. To me it is a real regret that this 
first course with him lasted only one term. Even this 
brief influence told strongly in my understanding of the 
great natural forces in the world. To-day I can recall 
how careful he was to make us realize how many secrets 
still undiscovered waited for our search. 

It was in the realm of higher mathematics that Doctor 
Murray was, I think, at his best as a teacher. Only about 
a dozen of us elected Calculus at the beginning of our 
junior year, and this solely because we wished to study 
under our favorite professor. Hitherto our mathemati- 
cal instruction had been most superficial, and we had no 
sense whatever of the depths before us. 

It was then that the genius of Doctor Murray was 



LETTERS AND TESTIMONIALS 61 

displayed. He inspired us to really feel that a complete 
understanding of McLaren's and Taylor's Theorems was 
the only true basis of a sound education. In less than a 
month they were as clear to us as the rule of three. Later 
on we engaged in field work, and had we only had the 
sense to follow it up some of us would have become 
famous engineers. How Doctor Murray was able to keep 
our enthusiasm a constant quantity is impossible to ex- 
plain, probably he could not do this himself, but he cer- 
tainly possessed the power of imparting analytical 
method to our work, and making us feel that we were 
equal to the hardest task. Probably the secret of his 
ability lay in his own complete absorption in the work in 
hand, — ^while it was going on he had eyes and attention 
for nothing else. 

Even callow youth appreciate such self-surrender, es- 
pecially when they know it is all for them. So we gave 
back to him the best we had. It was said of Edward 
Bowen, of Harrow, by one of his best pupils: ''If he 
takes a lesson he makes you work twice as hard as other 
masters, but you like it twice as much, and you learn far 
more." With a grateful sense of obligation I can now 
say the same of Doctor Murray. 

It is vain to attempt to estimate the influence of such 
a teacher on the after-life of his pupils. But it must be 
as deep and long as their lives. And so for others as well 
as myself I thank God for having been permitted to feel 
the power of his consecrated life. I know also that in this 
brief and broken statement I have only touched on one 
side of his character ; and that the hours in which he was 
most winning and attractive were those when he uncon- 
sciously drew aside the veil from the inner shrine, and 
one really saw how good he was. 

The living voice is silent now, but the power of an 



62 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

endless life, displayed in Ms blameless manhood, and 
noble views of truth, can never cease. 

' ' So others shall 
Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand, 
From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer, 
And Grod's grace fructify through thee to all." 



TRIBUTE FROM HIS CLASSMATE 

S. B. BRO^A^NELL, ESQ. 

Doctor Murray was a junior at Union College, and 
well established in college life when I first knew him, and 
had already become the acknowledged leader of college 
society, whom everyone regarded as easily first in all 
that goes to make a man attractive and distinguished in 
the college world. His was the personal influence which 
flows from the union of genuine courtesy with quiet and 
composed self-control, and a warm and genial interest in 
his fellows. Every one carried to him any question of 
doubt or trouble with confidence in his sympathy and 
wisdom, and reliance on his advice and counsel. His ex- 
ample and influence were always on the side of right, and 
he seemed never to be at fault or even to make a mistake. 

He was president of the principal literary and debat- 
ing societies, and president of his class at its meetings 
and other functions. 

His recitations and class exercises were always per- 
fect—for to a natural ability he added an industrious 
and conscientious preparation which never failed him in 
the acquisition or expression of his knowledge. 

With the admiration and affection of the students he 
enjoyed the confidence and respect of the faculty, and 
won all the dignities and honors of college. President 
Nott had no fancy for prizes, and in our day none were 
offered, except such as were common for all — like an elec- 
tion to Phi Beta Kappa, which was a college honor, and 
which he won. 

At graduation he was one of the commencement ora- 
tors. 

His attainments in language were broad and accurate, 
and his translations easy and elegant. 

In mathematics his acquirements were profound and 
extensive. 



64 DAVID MUERAY: IN MEMORIAM 

In physical science (and such studies were highly 
specialized in our college in those days) he made rapid 
and creditable progress, and in engineering and phil- 
osophy he took a high stand. 

Indeed, his whole course of college study was rounded 
out by fulness and exactness which were his chief char- 
acteristics. Had there been a prize for the best student, 
— ^the best scholar, — the best fellow, — the best man in 
college, I am sure he would have carried it off by the 
unanimous ballot of president, faculty and students. 

Personally, in my college days I thought him the most 
winning and attractive man in college, and of him, more 
than any other, I cherished the belief that he would fill a 
most useful and distinguished sphere in life : an augury 
which the event has happily fulfilled. 

To him his classmates owe much for an example and 
influence which has worked for good these many years. 

Every position he has held has been worthily filled. 
His performance of the duties of the headship of the 
Academy at Albany; the Professorship at Rutgers; the 
office of educational counsellor to the Emperor of Japan 
and his people; the Secretaryship of the University of 
the State of New York, attests the versatility of his gifts 
and the variety of his accomplishments and the diligence 
of his application. 

It seems out of place to praise him for negative vir- 
tues — to say that he was without fault — Sans peur et sans 
reproche. 

In college and since, it is not too much to describe him 
with Horace, 

''Justum et tenacem propositi virum," 

and to say of him with the older poet — ''Seest thou a 
man diligent in his business? He shall stand before 
kings. He shall not stand before mean men. ' ' 



[The Christian Intelligencer, April, 1905.] 

DAVID MURRAY, LL.D. 

BY THE REV. CHARLES E. HART, D.D. 

At a time when the public mind, amazed at the mar- 
velous achievements of Japan, and awakened to inquiry 
as to the causes and influences which have brought this 
nation to the front, it was most significant of their fine 
courtesy that the Japanese Minister and Consul-General, 
in the person of their representative, Mr. Nagai, attended 
the funeral service of Dr. David Murray and placed upon 
his bier their beautiful floral tributes, recognizing in a 
message to Mrs. Murray the eminent part her husband 
had taken in the organization and establishment of their 
system of education. For this service no man was bet- 
ter qualified both by his personality and training than 
Doctor Murray. He was a profound student of the sys- 
tems of education, a master of the methods, and accom- 
plished in the practice. The names of Verbeck and Mur- 
ray are imperishably enshrined in the history of the edu- 
cation and development of the Japanese nation. 

Doctor Murray was born of Scotch parentage at Bo- 
vina, near Delhi, Delaware County, N. Y., October 15, 
1830, and reared in a home the character and influence of 
which is seen in his own career and in that of his brother, 
who became Judge of the Supreme Court of the State of 
New York. He was sent to Union College, from which he 
was graduated in 1852. He at once entered upon his 
career as educator, and was made instructor in mathe- 
matics in the Albany Academy from 1852 to 1857, when 
he was promoted to the headship of the institution, which 
he filled for the next six years, developing his power to 
command, to attach and to quicken the minds of the youth 
who came under his care. 



66 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

From Albany he was called in 1863 to Rutgers Col- 
lege, to become professor of mathematics and astronomy. 
His impression upon the students was instantaneous and 
profound. He gave to his chair great dignity and power, 
and made mathematics and astronomy an intellectual 
discipline, and by his personality a moral training in 
character and manhood. He married, December 23, 1867, 
Martha A. Neilson, of the family of the Revolutionary 
patriot of that name. Their home, whether in New 
Brunswick, Japan or Albany, became the center of an 
elegant and gracious hospitality. He supported, wher- 
ever he went, the highest interests of the community, and 
commanded universal esteem and affection by his wisdom 
and engaging personality. Among his works he organ- 
ized and was the first President of the Historical Club 
and Y. M. C. A. of his home city. 

In 1873 the Japanese Government, in its search for 
an adviser in the foundation of a system of public educa- 
tion, was directed to Doctor Murray as eminently quali- 
fied by his high attainments and wisdom, and he was 
appointed ''Adviser to the Imperial Minister of Educa- 
tion. ' ' He accepted the appointment and went to Japan, 
spending the period from 1873 to 1879 elaborating and 
establishing the system of public instruction in the serv- 
ice of the Imperial Ministry, returning once to the United 
States at the Centennial Exposition, to make collections 
for the Educational Museum of Japan. His relations to 
the Imperial Government were cordial, his acquaintance 
and intercourse wide and influential, and his work so sat- 
isfactory that he was decorated by the Emperor with the 
Order of the Rising Sun. No man of that period had 
finer opportunities for the study of Japanese society and 
customs, or was better qualified to write the ''History of 
Japan," in Putnams' series of "The Stories of the Na- 
tions." It is a matter of regret that he did not live to 



LETTERS AND TESTIMONIALS 67 

complete the revision, with which he had been occupied, to 
include the issues of the present war with Russia. 

In 1879 he returned from Japan to become Secretary 
of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of 
New York. He again made his home in Albany, where 
he spent the next ten years in the wise and efficient ad- 
ministration of his important office, and in valued service 
in the public and social interests of the city. No citizen 
was more loved and revered in Albany than Doctor 
Murray. 

A severe illness in 1889 obliged him to give up this 
office to retire to his old home and old friends in New 
Brunswick, to rest in well earned leisure ; but it became 
a busy leisure in miscellaneous labors, for which he was 
admirably fitted. He was made Secretary of the Board 
of Trustees of Rutgers College; an elder of the Second 
Reformed Church ; Treasurer for ten years of the Wells 
Memorial Hospital, bringing up his accounts to March 1, 
within a short time of his death; a member of several 
important committees of the Theological Seminary, which 
called for constant service ; and a most active member in 
the historical and literary societies. All that he did was 
thorough, exact, finished and complete. 

He prepared many admirable papers for societies, 
notably those on the Anti-Rent episode in New York. 
Among his writings we have ' ' The History of Education 
in New Jersey, ' ' for the Government series ; a ' ' History 
of the Regents," for the work on Public Service of the 
State of New York, and a '^ Centennial History of Dela- 
ware County, N. Y." In 1897 he delivered a course of 
lectures at Johns Hopkins on ' ' The History of Education 
in Japan." Such were the contributions of his leisure, 
fruits of his ripe experience and study. 

Doctor Murray was a man of fine and commanding 
presence, of great dignity, affability and gentleness ; no 
harsh word ever fell from his lips. He was a thorough 



68 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

man of the world in the best sense, with fine tastes and 
accomplishments, of great wisdom and equanimity. His 
pure and elevated character was adorned by a most hum- 
ble faith and a devout simplicity. He bore with great 
fortitude and cheerfulness the severe pains of his last 
illness. He passed away at 9 o'clock in the morning of 
March 6. At his funeral service on the 9th, which was of 
a very impressive character, a large assemblage of the 
trustees and faculties of the college and theological semi- 
nary ; the students and old pupils ; public men and citi- 
zens, with the representative of the Japanese Govern- 
ment, was a fine demonstration of affection for this great 
and noble man. 



UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS 
OF DAVID MURRAY, ESQ., PH.D., LL.D. 

DEPOSITED IN THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY AT 

WASHINGTON, D. C, BY REQUEST 

OF THE LIBRARIAN 



UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS 

OF DAVID MURRAY, ESQ., Ph.D., LL.D. 

DEPOSITED IN THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY AT 

W^ASHINGTON, D. C, BY REQUEST 

OF THE LIBRARIAN 

A.— PAPERS AND ADDRESSES UPON JAPAN. 



I. — Education in Japan. 

1. Report upon a Draft Revision of the Code of Edu- 

cation in Japan. 

2. Report upon the Educational Exhibit at the Phila- 

delphia International Exhibition. 

3. Review of National Systems of Education with spe- 

cial reference to the Organization of a national 
system of Education in Japan. 

4. Report upon Collections made at the Philadelphia 

International Exhibition for an Educational 
and Scientific Museum at Tokyo, Japan. 

5. Address at the opening at Tokyo of the Educational 

and Scientific Museum. 

6. Address to the First Graduating Class of the Univer- 

sity of Tokyo. 

7. Notes on Science and Education in Japan. 

8. Report upon the Public Schools of Tokyo. 

9. Japanese Education — ^Ancient and Modern. 

Prepared for Philadelphia International Ex- 
hibition. 
10. Education in Japan. 

Lectures before Johns Hopkins University. 



72 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

11. The Development of Education in Japan. 

Paper for University Magazine — ^Union Col- 
lege. 

12. Education and Religion in Japan. 

Address in Albany. 

13. Education in Japan. 

With special reference to Missionary Educa- 
tion. 

II. — Government and National Affaies. 

1. Notes on Ancient Government in Japan. 

2. Daijokuwan — The Supreme Council in Japan. 

3. Notes on Modern Statesmen and Foreign Inter- 

course. 

4. Early Foreigners in Japan. 

5. History of Foreign Intercourse in Japan. 

6. Foreign Relations — ^with Japan. 

7. Oriental Questions. 

8. International Law as applied to Oriental Nations. 

9. Philadelphia International Exhibition — Lectures in 

Tokyo. 

III. — Political — Social — Ethnological. 

1. Political and Social Conditions of Japan — 1875. 

2. Notes on Social Life in Japan. 

3. Notes on Language, Ethnology, etc., in Japan. 

4. Relics preserved in the Shinto Shrine. 

5. The Social Condition of the Japanese (Tokugawa 

Period). 

rV. — Arts and Industries — Natural History. 

1. Arts and Industries in Japan. 

2. Art Notes and Subjects of Art. 



UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS 73 

3. Japanese Painters, I. 

4. Japanese Painters, II. 

5. Decorative and Ornamental Arts. 

6. Industrial Arts of Japan. 

7. Japanese Lacquer, I. 

8. Japanese Lacquer, II. 

9. Natural History of Japan. 



B.— PAPERS AND ADDRESSES IN AMERICA. 



I. — Lotteries and Wampum. 

1. Lotteries in the United States, I. 

2. Materials for above. 

3. Lotteries in the United States, IL 

4. Wampum Belts, I. 

5. Indian Wampum, II. 

6. Wampum as Money Belts. 

II. MiSCELLAlSrEOUS. 

1. Paper on the Life and Character of Max Muller. 

2. John Fiske and Herbert B. Adams. 

3. Spelling Reform. 

4. The Regents of the University of State of 

New York. 

5. Address : Examinations — their uses and abuses. 

6. Mathematics as a part of Education. 

7. Of Welcome to the National Educational 

Association — 1885. 

8. The Relations of the College to the 

Learned Professions — 1885. 

9. To the Graduating Class of the Albany 

Academy— 1882. 



74 DAVID MURRAY: IN MEMORIAM 

10. The Albany Institute and the Bi-Centennial of the 

City of Albany. 

11. At the opening of New School Building, Cobleskill, 

New York. 

12. Report upon the Albany Institute. 

13. Plan for a Topical History of Albany. 



C— PERSONAL PAPERS. 



1. Doctor Murray's appointment and work as Super- 

intendent of Educational Affairs in 
the Empire of Japan. 

2. Contract with Japanese Government (Japanese). 

3. Translation of above (English). 

4. Audience with Emperor, May, 1874. 

5. '' '' '' September, 1874. 

6. Invitation to Imperial Dinner, 1873. 

7. to Inauguration of New Buildings — 

Tokyo University. 

8. to House of Minister of Education. 

9. Commission to the Philadelphia International Ex- 

hibition of 1876. 

10. Letter from United States Minister, Japan, to Sec- 

retary of State, U. S. A., in re Doctor Mur- 
ray's work in Japan — 1878. 

11. Letter from Vice Minister of Education, Japan, in re 

progress of Education in Japan — 1879. 

12. Account of Ceremonies, Functions, etc., in Japan in 

connection with Doctor Murray's Departure. 



Although Doctor Murray's life was de- 
voted to Educational Affairs he was by no 
means a one-sided man. 

He was of a versatile nature and had he 
pursued astronomy or architecture for his 
life work he would undoubtedly have made 
a successful career in either of these sub- 
jects. But circumstances led him to the 
Educational course. 

He was a social man — a most hospi- 
table entertainer. Also called constantly 
in consultation for almost every public 
affair. As one of his New Brunswick asso- 
ciates said: ''We go to Doctor Murray for 
advice on all matters, even to private 
theatricals." 

He had a facile talent for pen-and-ink 
sketches and was ready with a poem for 
anniversaries and other occasions to which 
he was constantly invited. 

Always courteous and ready to do his 
part. 



